Adventures of a Ballad Hunter"When young John Lomax of Texas set off for college, he carried at the bottom of his trunk a small roll of cowboy songs. Several years later he summoned up courage to show them to one of his professors--a courteous and kindly Anglo-Saxon scholar--who advised him that frontier literature was tawdry, cheap, and unworthy, and that he had better devote himself to great literature. Luckily for Americans, he disregarded this advice and set out instead on a life of ballad collecting. What a full, exciting, and interesting life it has been! Adventures of a Ballad Hunter is John Lomax's story of his life. And because of the kind of life he has lived, it is the story of not one, but many Americans: of cowboys crooning to their dogies; of the last of the Ohio Canal Captains; of blind old Emma Dusenberry singing of knights in golden armor; of Henry Truvillion, head tracklayer, who kept his men moving by his songs and calls; of Sin Killer Griffin's memorable Calvary sermon in the Texas Penitentiary; of Lead Belly and Iron Head and Clear Rock; of saloons and dances; of camp meetings and burials and baptisings. In his many years of travel up and down the land seeking the songs Americans sing, John Lomax has come closer to the heart of America than almost any man of our times. Here in his book you will find the rich, racy flavor of American speech, the color and feeling of the various regions of our country, the independence and strength of its people, and story after fascinating story of their lives."--Dust jacket. |
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ain't Alan Alan Lomax asked ballad Ben Small Black Samson Bosque Bosque County boss boys Brazos River camp Captain cattle Chisholm Trail church Clear Rock cotton cowboy songs crowd dollars Fare-you-well farm feet folk music folk songs folksong friends girls goin Granbury gwine hand hear heard Heaven Henry horse hundred I'se Iron Head John Lomax knew Lead Belly Leslie Waggener Library of Congress Lomax looked Lord microphone miles Mississippi morning mourners mules Negro convicts never nigger night Parchman penitentiary preacher prison ranch recording machine river road round Sam Bass sang says shouted sing singers spirituals stanzas stood stopped story Sunday sung talk Tartt tell th'owed told took trail tree tune Uncle Billy University of Texas voice walked Wiergate woman words young